by Zara Cox
I bit back a groan as my groin kicked hard.
Hell, at this rate, I’d need a cold shower before I could conduct a coherent conversation.
When she reached the lounger and grabbed a towel, I struck out for the far side where I’d dropped my clothes.
I hauled myself out, hoping the cool air would do what the tepid water hadn’t been able to achieve, and calm my excitement.
Her sharp intake of breath reached me as I bent to pick up my pants.
Don’t turn around. Don’t—
I turned and surprised her gaze on my ass. On any given day, I would’ve tossed out a cocky remark, encouraged her to look her fill if she promised to let me do the same. But we were already in uncharted territory and it’d barely been twelve hours since we met.
Not to mention, there were cameras out here, set up by my team, recording every second of our little show. Set-jawed, I pulled on my pants. First priority after our talk would be to access the security feed and delete that stretch of footage.
She’d disappeared by the time I locked the doors and went into the kitchen. Her coffee machine looked as if it hadn’t been touched since it came out of the box. After setting it up, I grabbed two mugs and waited for the machine to do its thing.
She walked in just as the first cup filled. The thin, long-sleeved sweater wasn’t temperature-raising in and of itself except it was cropped, exposing a good three inches of her midriff. Paired with black leggings hugging every glorious inch of hip, thigh and legs, it was incredibly potent. I swallowed a groan and busied myself making the second cup. Which took all of ten seconds.
“How do you take your coffee?”
She looked surprised at the offer. “Umm...cream with two sugars and a splash of vanilla.”
I found the ingredients, stirred them into her cup and handed it over. “If it sucks, keep it to yourself.”
She accepted the coffee, took a careful sip, then blinked. “It’s good. Thanks.”
I got mine and joined her at the kitchen island. “Why buy a coffee machine if you don’t intend to use it?” I asked just for something to do other than stare at the mouth whose taste was now stuck in my head.
“I didn’t buy it. It was here when I moved in, along with most of the furniture.” Her reply was the stiff, don’t-go-there kind.
I ignored the alarm bells. “How long have you lived here?”
Her face tightened. “Three years.”
“And you’ve only worked for SDM?”
She nodded and leaned her hip against the counter. I forcefully redirected my gaze up to her damp hair, anything not to stare at the silky stretch of bare midriff skin or the luscious curve of her hip.
“So why not a condo nearer to SDM’s offices in Sunnyvale?” This part of Silicon Valley was CEO territory, usually favored by those with families.
Her long, sooty lashes swept down. “Accommodation came as part of my signing package and this one was available. It was supposed to be temporary until I found my own place but...it grew on me. When the opportunity came up for me to buy it, I did.” She shrugged. “Also saved me time on house-hunting.”
The well-rehearsed answer heightened my suspicion that something else was going on here. I left it alone for the moment.
“Besides swimming, what else takes you outside on a day-to-day basis?”
“Nothing I can’t live without for the time being.”
“Great. So we’re agreed that you’ll give me a heads-up before you head outside?”
Rebellious green eyes met mine across the granite top. “If it’ll stop you from diving naked into my pool, then yes.” Impatiently, she set her half-finished coffee on the counter with a snap. “By trapping me in my own home, isn’t he winning?”
“You’re not trapped. You just won’t be doing stuff by yourself for a while. Besides, if he thinks you’ve got someone else in your life he might show his hand sooner.”
She frowned. “Someone in my life?”
I shrugged. “He doesn’t know who I am. That’ll make him nervous. Enough to show his hand, I’m hoping.”
She absorbed the words for several beats. “And if it doesn’t?”
I felt my face harden. “Then we’ll step up the game, take the fight to him.”
My days of sitting around, waiting for things to happen were long behind me. Trusting other people to do the right thing for my mother had cost her the ultimate price. She’d suffered for years until she’d taken the only option she felt available to her, leaving me to deal with the aftermath.
The bitter pill I’ve swallowed all these years rose to the back of my throat again. Ruthlessly I pushed it back down.
Her gaze dropped for a moment. “The other reason I hired you was because your success rate is one hundred percent. I guess you’re good at what you do,” she murmured as she toyed with the handle of the mug.
I silenced the cocky bastard inside that wanted to strut at the hidden meaning in her words as she tugged one corner of her lower lip between her teeth. “I have a lot riding on finishing my algorithm,” she added.
The admission wasn’t an easy one and I admired her a hell of a lot for voicing it. It was probably why I skirted the counter to stand in front of her. Why I tucked my finger under her chin and raised her gaze to mine. “We’ll catch the bastard. I promise,” I said.
Her nostrils quivered delicately as she took a breath. This close, I could see the faint shadows and fear she was fighting lurking in her eyes. She’d been brave up to this point but the edges of her composure were beginning to unravel. I opened my mouth, to promise fuck knows what, but she stepped back.
“Um, about that kiss...”
The memory of it blazed a path through me. “Yeah?”
“It was out of line. I’m sorry.”
“I’m...not.”
She stiffened. “What?”
I tossed out an offhand shrug, despite the wide pit of what-the-fuck-are-you-doing yawning before me. “Technically, I didn’t break my rules. You got me hard as fuck on the plane. You kissed me in the pool.”
Her eyes widened. “And that makes it okay?”
“That makes me...okay with not losing any sleep over it.” In fact, the more I thought about it the more I grew okay with it.
“Is that how you usually give yourself a pass?” she asked, her face tightening.
“Since you’re the only client I’ve allowed to...handle me like that, I’ll say no.”
Lily’s mouth dropped open.
My answering smile felt tense as thoughts of Kirsten flared up. With her, I did all the chasing, right into the trap she set for me. Since her, my personal encounters had been kept strictly sexual, with a time limit of no more than two months. I’d discovered that was when nesting behavior began cropping up.
One or two women had called me a cold bastard. I’d learned to live with it. I could probably live with Lily’s brand of shutting me up, too, although I was a little unnerved that I was inviting her to smudge the lines. “So if the urge takes you, feel free to go with it.”
She gasped. “Are you serious?”
I shrugged.
“Well, it won’t,” she said briskly. “Are we done here?”
Disappointment cut sharp but I brushed it off. “For now. My team will be here at nine to finish setting up inside. What are your plans for today?”
“I’m going to the office in a couple of hours. It’s quieter on the weekend. I get a lot more done there.”
“We’ll go together.”
She nodded and walked over to the sink with her cup. After rinsing it, she bent over to place it in the dishwasher. I ogled her heart-shaped ass for a cock-hardening few seconds before redirecting my gaze.
“I’ll have the list ready for you in half an hour,” she said as she walked out.
I leaned against the coun
ter after she was gone, willing my hard-on to subside even as I tossed around the rationale I’d given her for bypassing my rules.
Would she take it? Did I really want her to?
Hell, yes!
The powerful need behind the thought propelled me from the kitchen in search of something else to occupy my mind.
For the next hour I explored the two acres attached to the house, assessing possible weak points and compiling a list for the security team to tackle.
In the garage I found a gleaming black single-rider motorcycle with chrome detailing next to a compact Mini. Both were characteristically diverse, but somehow encompassed Lily Gracen’s personality perfectly.
Smiling, I finished the check and returned to the house. I set myself up in the dining room and sent emails to Maggie and the security team. Then I logged on to the security feed, played it through until I reached the moments from the pool.
The cameras displayed shots from different angles, but the one placed in the pergola perfectly captured the moment I reached Lily. It showed the tight expression in both our faces as we talked. Her shock at finding me naked. The moment she pulled my head down for that memorable kiss. The perfect arch of her spine and ass as she rose from the water two feet from me, and my blatant hunger as I stared.
I selected the seven-minute frame and moved my finger to the delete button. Only to pause at the point when she glanced over at me after I came out of the pool. Her gaze didn’t linger for more than a few seconds, but the effect of watching her watch me pull on my pants was an extreme turn-on. Like a testosterone-filled sucker, I hit Rewind. Watched the kiss. And again. Until my balls screamed under the pressure I was putting on them. Until my dick roared with the need to fuck.
Hard and fast and rough.
Damn. I wish I hadn’t watched it. Lily was an extremely attractive female with a delectable exterior wrapped around a core of steel. Not to mention a healthy sex drive she wasn’t shy about satisfying with sex toys.
But despite my weakness for strong, intelligent women, rules were rules. They’d kept me at the top of my game for the best part of a decade.
I shut the laptop and shoved away from the table. My hand slipped beneath the waistband of my sweatpants and I gave myself a quick, jaw-clenching few strokes before standing up.
I wouldn’t touch her while she was my client. But there was nothing stopping me from ensuring the ball was kept front and center in her court.
CHAPTER SIX
Lily
HIS SECURITY TEAM arrived right on schedule.
Three men carrying six large black cases grunted various forms of hello before they went to work.
Ninety minutes later they were done and gone. The setup was state-of-the-art and discreet enough to almost blend into the decor but their presence still felt intrusive.
“How soon do you want to head to the office?” Caleb asked after running me through the security procedures.
I paused halfway up the stairs and turned to face him. He was right behind me, so close I could smell traces of chlorine mingling with his natural body scent, which didn’t help my desperate need to forget what happened at the pool.
God, he’d tasted incredible—erotic, intoxicating and potentially addictive. Everything I imagined a real man tasted like. And that was with a kiss I’d surprised him with.
Like on the plane last night, taking control had felt...wonderful. Liberating. I went to sleep craving more of it. I woke to the memory of my hand stroking his thick, hard cock. It was what drove me to the pool to cool off.
Except I’d left it craving more of Caleb.
He was waiting for an answer. And I was staring at his mouth like a horny idiot.
I turned away sharply before that left brow completed its mocking ascent. “I just need to transfer data from my laptop to my office work station. So ten minutes?” I needed to be free of his distracting presence for a few hours. The man brought new meaning to the term larger than life.
“Sounds good.”
Five minutes later I was standing in my closet, assessing my clothes with a critical eye. The notion that I was taking extra time to dress because of him intensified my churning emotions. But the powerful thrill that came from knowing Caleb Steele was attracted to me was unstoppable. It was the kind of power that could go to a woman’s head.
But power was corruptible. I should know. Between Chance and my stepfather, they’d used their power over me to control my every move.
It wouldn’t be like that between Caleb and me, though. He’d given me the green light. Hell, he’d urged me to use my power.
And I’d be lying if I didn’t admit I was sorely tempted.
God, you’re losing it.
I tugged off my leggings and replaced them with black leather pants. I kept my sweater and usual accessories of leather wrist cuffs and choker but I hesitated before reaching for my favorite red lipstick. It drew attention to my mouth, and made me feel sexy but after this morning, did I want to encourage that around Caleb?
Yes, you do. Maybe, even a little too much...
Frowning, I impatiently reached for the peach lip balm.
The earlier I got to the office, the quicker I could disappear into my work and forget my stalker, and Caleb, existed.
He was waiting at the bottom of the stairs, eyes on his phone when I reached the landing. I hated myself for half hoping he wouldn’t look up while my stomach churned in hope that he would. Both wishes were answered when halfway down the stairs his head slowly lifted. His gaze collided with mine before those unnervingly hot eyes swept down my body, all the way to the tips of my heeled boots before conducting a slower return journey.
Hell, he wasn’t even hiding the fact that he wanted me anymore. Now he’d told me to come for him, he was granting me unfettered access.
By the time I reached the last step, the simmering heat that hadn’t quite dissipated since our pool encounter was stoked into foot-high flames, licking their way up to my nipples and turning them into traitorous points of need that stood out against my thin sweater.
As if he could read my thoughts as easily as he could read my body, his gaze dropped to linger on my breasts, then rose to my face again as his breathing altered.
I’m not sure how long we stood staring at one another.
His phone beeped with an incoming message. His gaze dropped for a second, and then he stared back at me.
“Are you ready?” His voice was gruff.
My head bobbed a nod.
As he turned to open the door, I noticed he’d changed into dark jeans, a black T-shirt and a dark brown leather jacket. “We’ll take the SUV.”
I stopped. “I usually go to work by bike but I understand that it’s no longer a viable option. So we’ll take my car.”
“No disrespect to your car, but I prefer not to arrive with leg cramps. And before you say it, no, I won’t follow while you drive your car.”
“But—”
“Sorry, this is one of those nonnegotiable scenarios we talked about. The safe house is also still an option.”
I stalked to the SUV and yanked open the door, worryingly aware this man had the ability to unbalance me with very little effort.
I studied his profile as he started the engine and rolled the large vehicle toward the gates. After he drove through, he flashed me a smile, intensifying the heat blazing through me.
God, had I not stood my ground last night, I would currently be ensconced in a cabin in the middle of nowhere with him.
Mr. if-the-urge-takes-you-feel-free-to-go-with-it.
Erotic thoughts and images bombarded me, enough to keep me silent as he drove toward SDM’s Sunnyvale offices.
At the checkpoint, I showed my ID, confirmed that Caleb was with me and directed him to my parking spot.
A curl of pride drifted through me as I saw hi
m read the sign attached to my name—Junior Vice President—Programming & Coding. Despite the yoke around my neck in the form of my debt to Chance and my stepfather, I knew I’d earned this position. That I was capable of conquering even bigger mountains. It was what I intended to do the moment I was free of my twin oppressors.
Caleb’s glance showed cool respect.
A knot loosened in my chest. Which in turn made me madder that I’d wanted to see that respect in his eyes. Wanted him to see me through another set of lenses than those of a powerless victim needing help from a fixer.
Throwing the door open, I jumped out.
“Lily, wait—”
I was half a dozen cars away when he caught up with me. “What?”
“You don’t rush off and leave me behind. Understood?” he gritted out. He was annoyed, too, but trying to hide it with a fake smile. His fingers slipped around my wrist, his gaze scanning the parking lot before returning to mine. “He could be anywhere, including right here in this parking lot, waiting for an opportunity to strike.”
I felt the blood leave my face. His hold tightened momentarily, a gesture of comfort despite his annoyance. “I know it’s a pain in the ass but it will become much easier if you accept a few temporary changes.”
“Like agreeing for you to become my shadow?”
Annoyance receded to leave a smile that looked more genuine. “I was thinking more like your second skin but I’ll settle for shadow.”
I tried not to recall the feel of his golden skin against mine and failed miserably. “Okay, can we go now?”
“Sure.”
And just like that, he’d gotten his way again. Deciding that keeping score would only mess with my sanity, I headed for my place of work.
SDM’s San Francisco offices were shaped like two bananas facing each other, connected by glass and steel walkways on every floor. The hardware development and tech team took up one building, and the software, programming and coding team took up the other.
I entered the left building and smiled at the guard behind the security desk. “Morning, Charlie.”